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4.26.2011

Letting Our Children Be Themselves - Guest Blogger

Renee is my last guest blogger for this series. She is the mother of 14 beautiful children and writes about homeschooling, positive parenting, photography, adoption, knitting, cooking, and so much more. She reminds me that, though life is busy, it is good! And I love her writing style. I invite you to read her take on what it means to be a conscious parent:

I wasn't sure exactly what aspect of conscious parenting I was going to write about, until talking to a friend the other night. She brought up something that has come up a lot over the last couple of years. People seem to find it surprising that we allow and encourage our children to follow their individual interests.

Perhaps people assume that since we are a large family, we can't take each child's individual passions into account. It's true that in a family our size conformity often rules the day: the children get up at the same time, we eat the same breakfast at the same time, we eat lunch together and start school together. But I view each one of my fourteen children as individuals. It comes in to play when I dress them, spend time with them, give them haircuts and plan out their education.

I recently asked Adalia (15), Judah (13) and Tilly (12) to write a research paper on a topic of their choice. The selections? Major WWII Battles, Ice Cream, and Breast Milk vs. Formula. I'll let you guess who wrote what.